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Some answers (Now with NOOK info) Tavi Send a noteboard - 29/07/2010 04:15:53 PM
...and the trees sing :)


I'm sort-of maybe thinking about getting one, and have two questions:

  1. What are the pros/cons/USPs of all the different readers?
  2. Are ebooks a standard format that are compatible with all readers, or if I buy a certain reader am I locking myself into a certain ebook format?


If you want a full comparison, let me know, and I'll write something more detailed. Here's the basics, though.

1) Depends on what you're looking for.

Price (readers): Amazon is a little cheaper than B&N, and they're both cheaper than the Sony equivalent.

Price (books): Amazon, B&N, and Sony typically sell the e-book versions of NY Times Bestsellers for ~$9.99. Outside of those, Amazon typically has a lower price point.

Features: Amazon has different features than B&N or Sony.

B&N offers chess and sudoku,replaceable battery, upgradeable memory storage, experimental book lending, experimental web access, in-store book reading (one hour on select books), and in store service/special offers

Sony has a full touch-screen reader, and another version with wireless access

Amazon has password protect, folders, popular highlights, share passages on twitter/facebook, experimental web browsing, text-to-speech, synchronization between multiple devices (B&N is working on this), PDF pan & zoom

Internet: Amazon's 3G works internationally, B&N and Sony are US only. They all allow transfer of documents from your computer.

Formats: Amazon doesn't support ePub, which is (apparently) one of the more popular formats for electronic documents. B&N and Sony do. Amazon offers more format options without conversion than either.

2) You're not locked into a particular format by buying one e-reader over another. There's enough conversion software out there that you can pretty easily convert from any format to another, as long as there's no DRM on it.

Edit: Thanks to LadyLorraine for pointing out how one-sided my original version was.
This message last edited by Tavi on 29/07/2010 at 07:27:45 PM
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$140.00 Kindle Knightscape - 29/07/2010 04:02:42 AM 772 Views
They're not striking at the iPad...the two are in a different league Wulf`gar - 29/07/2010 04:51:23 AM 538 Views
Why would anyone buy a Kindle instead of an iPad? Tom - 29/07/2010 04:22:17 PM 559 Views
tablet computers are nothing new random thoughts - 29/07/2010 05:22:12 PM 482 Views
because some of us prefer to use our laptops regardless. LadyLorraine - 29/07/2010 06:27:04 PM 618 Views
I bought a nook instead of an iPad Wulf`gar - 29/07/2010 06:55:23 PM 567 Views
^ and what he said. LadyLorraine - 29/07/2010 06:57:41 PM 460 Views
Thirded Tavi - 29/07/2010 07:07:42 PM 603 Views
Price Knightscape - 30/07/2010 04:04:51 AM 457 Views
Ok, so, my question about all these readers... Nebhead - 29/07/2010 09:10:38 AM 508 Views
well. jh - 29/07/2010 10:00:55 AM 723 Views
On converting: depends on what you're converting from and to. Ghavrel - 29/07/2010 10:11:50 AM 557 Views
well... jh - 29/07/2010 12:10:44 PM 550 Views
the NOOK doesn't do txt (at least, not without conversion) LadyLorraine - 29/07/2010 07:09:39 PM 432 Views
No. The standardization is horrible (blame Amazon). Ghavrel - 29/07/2010 10:13:13 AM 564 Views
as you said, at least BN and Sony are much more compatible. *NM* LadyLorraine - 29/07/2010 06:28:03 PM 235 Views
I am trying to make the same decison random thoughts - 29/07/2010 01:27:44 PM 541 Views
pdf's show up nicely in iBooks and Stanza on the iPhone/iPad BlackAdder - 29/07/2010 04:31:03 PM 669 Views
I tried reading PDF on stanza with my iphone random thoughts - 29/07/2010 05:20:23 PM 463 Views
doublepost *NM* BlackAdder - 29/07/2010 04:31:03 PM 212 Views
Some answers (Now with NOOK info) Tavi - 29/07/2010 04:15:53 PM 694 Views
Some information about more than the Kindle: LadyLorraine - 29/07/2010 06:47:14 PM 480 Views
Good points Tavi - 29/07/2010 06:52:10 PM 643 Views
ahh, okay. I wasn't aware that was the Kindle 2 LadyLorraine - 29/07/2010 06:56:55 PM 446 Views
Kindle books don't convert to ePUB well Wulf`gar - 29/07/2010 06:59:16 PM 461 Views
Re: Kindle books don't convert to ePUB well Tavi - 29/07/2010 07:16:32 PM 664 Views
I'm really interested in Austrian Economics... Wulf`gar - 29/07/2010 09:22:10 PM 541 Views
Some good links for you: (And why I'm going to get a NOOK) LadyLorraine - 29/07/2010 06:48:54 PM 530 Views
e-books from the library. I had forgotten about that random thoughts - 30/07/2010 05:12:05 PM 381 Views
I believe they're mostly ePub, but probably some PDF-type files too *NM* LadyLorraine - 31/07/2010 01:49:04 AM 207 Views
The main question I ask myself is Where am I going to get ebooks from? Mark - 30/07/2010 01:06:41 PM 424 Views
Have you checked out google books and other similar non-bookstore sites? *NM* LadyLorraine - 30/07/2010 01:40:36 PM 212 Views
I have Mark - 30/07/2010 03:10:40 PM 451 Views
~clears throat~ Elaine - 30/07/2010 01:55:18 PM 506 Views
Thanks Mark - 30/07/2010 03:01:38 PM 574 Views
Absolutely no question you can. Michael - 31/07/2010 10:51:23 AM 556 Views
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